Under Her Skin

CRUZ WATCHED LEXI circulate through the crowd. She was careful to keep an eye on him, while trying to seem as if she was unaware of him. He was doing the same, but he was better at the game. He’d seen her confusion, followed by annoyance that he apparently hadn’t remembered her. He’d also felt the fiery chemistry he’d enjoyed ten years ago. Knowing it still existed made his job easier.

She was exactly what he needed—a way into the closed society of the Texas elite. It was the next logical step in his success, and he would use Lexi to make sure it happened. All he needed was time to observe so he could calculate the best plan of action.

Opportunity came sooner than he expected. Cruz watched as Lexi greeted a middle-aged man with thinning hair and a widening midsection. They spoke as if they knew each other. Cruz moved closer, staying behind a column so they couldn’t see him.

“Your sister has already pointed out several things I should bid on,” the man was saying. “Skye is ruthless.”

“And determined. Just remind yourself this is for a good cause, John. Give in, because if you don’t, she’ll make you feel so guilty, you’ll never sleep again. It’s why I come to these events. It’s easier than fighting her.”

John laughed. “You’re probably right.” Then he turned serious, lowering his voice. “I hate to bring business to the party, but are you going to ask her for the money? Doesn’t Skye have plenty of her own from her mother and her late husband?”

Lexi stiffened. Cruz saw her shoulders tighten and her hands clutch her glass. “I don’t want to talk about that here.”

John glanced around, as if making sure they weren’t overheard. Cruz was careful to stay hidden in the shadows.

“Lexi, you’ve been my customer from the first day you decided to open your day spa. I’m the one who talked you into the loan you’re having trouble with. I don’t want you to lose your business. But you have to do something to get the money and fast.”

“I know that,” she whispered. “And I will. Going to Skye isn’t an option.”

“Two million dollars—that kind of money won’t appear out of nowhere.”

“Thanks for the update. If you’ll excuse me, I need to freshen my drink.”

She slipped away. John watched her go, as did Cruz. But while the older man looked troubled, Cruz was only pleased.

Life was all about timing. The right deal at the right time. The right conditions for the race. He believed in being prepared and then ready to attack when the moment was right.

Like now.

CHAPTER TWO

LEXI STOOD ALONE on the balcony at Glory’s Gate. She’d wanted to escape the crush of the crowd and find a private place to feel sorry for herself. Something that had lasted all of three minutes. She heard footsteps behind her and held in a sigh. So much for a little peace and quiet.

“You are looking especially beautiful tonight, querida.”

The man’s voice was low and sexy with the slightest hint of an accent. She recognized it, and him. Cruz.

She turned to face him, then wished she hadn’t. He stood closer than she’d expected, all tall and broad-shouldered, backlit by the light spilling through the large windows. The railing prevented her from retreating, and moving to the side seemed too much like admitting she was rattled.

“Mr. Rodriguez,” she murmured, then sipped her drink. She would play it cool. He didn’t have to know she wasn’t very good at the game.

He smiled, his teeth flashing in the shadows. “Now, Lexi. We both know we’re very much on a first-name basis.”

Her eyes widened. “What? Are you saying you remember?” She blurted the words before she could stop herself, then wanted desperately to claw them back.

He moved closer, which she hadn’t thought was possible, bent down and kissed the side of her neck. He barely touched her, but she had the impression of firm lips and warm breath. Heat and shivers raced through her, making her toes curl and certain parts of her want to beg.

“How could I forget?” he asked, his voice low and sexy.

Playing it cool be damned, she thought as she sidestepped him and put several feet between them.

“You didn’t say anything before.”

“I didn’t think you wanted to discuss our night together in front of your sister.”

He hadn’t even hinted, she thought, annoyed and reaching for mad. Anger was safe. Anger could protect her from tall, handsome men who stood too close and made her feel desperate.

“How thoughtful of you. Now we’re reacquainted. Why don’t you return to the party? The bidding will begin soon. You won’t want to miss that.”

“I’m not here for the auction, Lexi. I’m here for you.”

She’d never been a swooner, but a sudden faint seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately she was too practical and knew landing on the floor of the stone balcony wouldn’t be pleasant or pretty. Though those strong arms might lean in to catch her and…

Wait a minute. They hadn’t seen each other in ten years. He’d never once bothered to get in touch with her and she happened to know she wasn’t all that hard to find. The urge to swoon left quickly.

“You’re very smooth,” she said, taking another sip of her drink.

“Thank you.”

“I like the suit. Custom?”

He nodded.

“You wouldn’t have been invited unless you had plenty of money to give to my sister’s foundation. Her charity only extends to hungry children. Last time I saw you, you were racing cars for pink slips.”

“A hobby,” he told her. “I already had my business.”

“But it’s grown considerably,” she said, remembering Skye’s introduction. “You have it all. So why are you here, Cruz? Why now? We had one night, a very long time ago. Nothing more.”

It had been more to her, but he didn’t have to know that.

“Enough with the Spanish words and neck kissing,” she said. “What do you want?”

He leaned against the railing. “What makes you think I want anything except you?”

She wanted to believe. More specifically, her libido, and maybe pride, wanted her to believe. But the logical side of her brain pointed out that Cruz could have any woman on the planet. Why her? Why now?

She set her drink on the small table by the railing. “It was great to see you again. Enjoy the auction.” She turned to leave.

He grabbed her arm.

It wasn’t enough that she was going to lose her business. No. Fate had to get a good giggle over her very visceral, uncontrolled reaction to this man. She should get one of those Medica Alert bracelets. “In case of cardiac arrest, administer one kiss from Cruz Rodriguez.”

He stared at her. “Tell me about the money you need.”

She went cold inside. “How do you know about that? Who told you?” Was he the one? Was it possible Cruz was trying to screw with her business? But why?

“I overheard you speaking with your banker. I assume he’s your banker?”

“Yes,” she said absently. “John. He’s here because he knows everyone. Who else heard us talking?” She couldn’t let word get out. If her father learned about this…

“No one. You were alone.”

“Except for you.”

“Yes. Except for me.” His dark gaze seemed to see through her. “What’s wrong with your business?”

“Nothing,” she snapped, embarrassed he’d found out. “Look, I don’t want to talk about this. I appreciate the interest, but unless you have an extra two million dollars lying around, I need to get going.”

One eyebrow raised. “And if I do?”

“I’m not interested.”

“Are you sure?”

She folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t get it,” she said. “What are you doing? What’s the game?”

“Why won’t you go to your father for the money? He has plenty.”

“Not an option.”

“I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

Noise from the party filtered out to them, but it was as if they were in another world. Just the two of them. She was aware of his breathing, aware of every part of him. He was a constant distraction, which made her crazy.

He stared at her, then nodded slowly, as if coming to a decision. “You know the senator who is here?”

“What? Sure. Be grateful you’re not female. He’d want to pat your ass.”

“I spoke to him earlier. Introduced myself. He was polite, then dismissed me.”

“He can be pompous,” Lexi said, feeling oddly protective of Cruz, which just went to show how very stupid her hormones could be.

“I could buy and sell him five times over, but that doesn’t matter. No matter how custom the suit, I’m still that kid from the barrio. But you know this world. You live in it.”

“Hey, I’m not like that.”

“But you’re one of them. Tell me why you won’t go to your father for the money you need.”

She wouldn’t have told him before, but now he’d exposed himself to her and she felt obligated to do the same.

“While there is family money,” she began slowly, “my father controls it and he’s not exactly giving us a million-dollar allowance. He is Titan World Enterprises, not me. I had a small trust fund from my maternal grandmother, which I used to start my day spa. Other than that, the only money I have is what I make myself.”

She sighed and looked into his eyes, then wished she hadn’t. Staring into the dark depths made her want to lean forward and kiss him. Maybe more.

Maybe? Who was she kidding?

“Jed Titan is a controlling bastard,” she said, wishing it weren’t true. “A few years ago he sat my sisters and me down and explained he would be leaving Titan World Enterprises to one of us and only one of us. We have a finite amount of time to prove our worth in the winner-take-all game.”

She still remembered being horrified by her father’s words. He was making them choose—the family business and fortune that went with it, or each other. The unspoken part of the bargain was that the winner didn’t just get the money—she got Jed, as well. The father who had always made it clear his affection was conditional.

“My two sisters and I had been close, but once that happened, everything changed. I realized that working for my father wouldn’t get me far in the competition. So I quit and started my day spa. Skye runs her foundation and Izzy…” She frowned. “Izzy defies death on a daily basis. My point is, if I go to my father, I’ve lost my chance to run the company.”

And her father, because Jed only ever cared about winners.

“I made a mistake,” she continued. “I got greedy and stupid, which means I now have a two-million dollar problem. I was offered a loan by a private investor. He didn’t want a piece of the business, which was great for me. I took the money and expanded my spa. The note was callable. I have three weeks to cough up two million dollars or lose everything.”

She turned away. “Now you know my deepest, darkest secret.” She was already regretting the confession. “How are you going to use it?”

“I’ll give you the money,” he told her.

She spun back to face him. Was it possible he meant it? “You mean you’ll loan it to me.”

“No. I don’t want it back. I want something else.”

Wariness replaced excitement. “What, exactly, do I have that’s worth two million dollars to you?”

He dropped his gaze to her bare toes and worked his way up. The meaning was clear. Even though nearly every cell in her body began to cheer, she ignored the liquid wanting pouring through her, raised her chin and said, “I don’t think so.”

He smiled. “Not sex, Lexi. I don’t have to pay for that any more today than I did ten years ago.”

She flushed. “Then what?”

His dark gaze sharpened. “Access. You’re a Titan. Your mother can trace her bloodline back to the American revolution. I have all the money I need, but I will always be a poor kid from the barrio. I want better for my children.”

She understood the words, but not the meaning. “How can I change that?”

“Marry me.”

She gripped the cool iron railing to keep herself from falling over in a faint.

Married? He wanted to get married?

“For a year,” he added. “That should be enough time for me to gain access to your world. You can introduce me to your rich and powerful friends, including the senator. They’ll accept me because of you. At the end of the year, we part. For that, I’ll give you two million dollars.”

“You’re buying a bride?”

“A temporary one.”

Right. Because after a year he would leave her to marry someone he actually cared about. She might not approve of his plan, but she appreciated his honesty.

“Your idea is totally impossible,” she said.

“It’s a business deal. Nothing more.”

“It’s marriage. It’s an institution. It’s meaningful and significant and I won’t get married for money.”

He looked at her as if she were both foolish and naive. Maybe she was.

“It is a means to an end,” he said. “Nothing more.”

At least not for him, she thought, realizing that despite having spent a night in his bed, she knew nothing about Cruz. The man was a mystery to her.

No. That wasn’t totally true. She’d just learned he would do nearly anything to get what he wanted.

“My father would be impressed,” she told him. “He would appreciate the bold plan, the total disregard for convention or feelings.”

Cruz shrugged.

She didn’t bother pointing out that being like her father wasn’t admirable. She’d had a lifetime of trying to prove herself to Jed Titan. She wasn’t looking for his worldview in a husband.

And she wasn’t going to marry Cruz for two million dollars. She still believed in love and being with someone forever. She wanted the magic, the promise, the future. She wanted a man who thought she was the best thing that had ever happened to him. She wasn’t interested in being part of a deal.

Which meant she was back where she’d started—desperate, with nowhere to turn.

She thought about all she’d worked for over the years. The mind-numbing hours she’d put in at her father’s company, desperate to be good enough. The risk of starting something of her own. Of how she’d built the business up herself. The hours were just as long as they’d been at Titan World, but this time she’d been doing it for herself. She’d survived and then she’d thrived. Until she’d put everything at risk for the chance to be bigger and more impressive.

She’d acted to win and she’d lost it all.

Or had she?

Cruz had proposed a business deal she couldn’t accept. But was there an alternative? Could she make a counter offer? Something that got them both what they wanted? That’s how business was done. She’d learned that and more while working for her father. Some days she’d even been damn good at her job.

“I won’t marry you,” she said, straightening and squaring her shoulders. “Besides, being divorced will make you less appealing.”

He raised an eyebrow, as if asking how that was possible.

“Trust me. Those DAR mommas are very protective of their daughters. A divorced man is a risk—he might leave their precious angel. But a man with a broken engagement is simply a man who wasn’t caught by the right woman. I won’t marry you, but we can be engaged. That will give you what you want. Entrance into the best houses and an introduction to every impressive bloodline in Texas.”

“An engagement?”

She nodded.

“For a year?” he asked.

“Six months. It’s more than enough time.” It seemed too long as it was.

He leaned against the railing. “You’ll agree to an engagement for six months on the condition that I give you two million dollars.”

He wasn’t asking a question, but she said “Yes” anyway. Maybe to prove to herself that she meant it.

“Interesting,” he said slowly. “I have conditions.”

Good for him. She was going to have a heart attack. What was she thinking? An engagement for money? Her mother would be horrified. Not that she would consider an engagement without love a problem at all, but that she would get engaged to a man like Cruz. Which was probably his point.

“You will come live with me for the time we’re engaged,” he told her. “In my house. In my room and in my bed. I have a housekeeper and various caretakers for my property. I’m sure they gossip. Everyone must believe our engagement is genuine.”

Oh. My. God. “You mean sex?” she asked, barely able to form the words. “You want us to have sex?”

One corner of his mouth turned up. “Yes.”

Why on earth would he want to do that with her again? Last time, he’d left so fast, there’d been skid marks on the floor. Did he think she’d gotten better? Had he forgotten what it was like between them? Did he want to humiliate her again?

“Us living together is not negotiable,” he added.

“Then there’s no deal. I won’t agree to that.”

He shrugged. “As you wish.”

He turned and walked away.

Lexi watched him go. But instead of Cruz’s broad shoulders, she saw the front entryway to her day spa. The gleaming hardwood floors with the stain she’d chosen herself. The collection of cosmetics and skin care. She could smell the fresh flowers, see the guests in the relaxation room, feel the breeze from the lazy ceiling fans.

If she got a conventional loan, her father would find out. He would ask questions and learn she’d made a mistake. She would lose her chance at Titan World Enterprises. She would lose everything.

Or she could get the money from Cruz and win it all. Was that worth six months of her life?

Indecision made her stomach hurt. It wasn’t the engagement, it was the idea of sharing a bed with him. Again. Even worse, she understood his point. Staff would talk. If word got out they weren’t really engaged, there was no point in the deal.

Could she do it? Was it worth it?

“Then I have conditions, as well,” she called, doing her best to keep her voice from shaking.

He came to a stop, then turned back to her. One eyebrow raised.

“Fidelity,” she said. “If you expect me to sleep with you, you won’t sleep with anyone else.”

For the second time his gaze dropped to her feet before slowly moving up her body. “Do you think you have it in you to satisfy me?”

Not even on her best day, but that wasn’t the point. “I don’t actually care. That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”

“You’re not in a position of power, Lexi. You need the money.”

“I need a loan,” she bluffed, aware that going to a bank wasn’t an option. “Anyone can give me a check, but there aren’t that many women who can give you what you want. I am in a position of power, Cruz. Fidelity is not negotiable.”

He nodded. “As you wish.”

Just like that? He was an attractive man, with an explosive sex drive, from what she remembered. “If you cheat, I walk and I tell everyone what you did. That will slam shut all the doors I opened.”

“Agreed. And you’ll do the same. Give up your men.”

“Sure.” There wasn’t anyone to give up. Sad, but true.

“At the end of the six months, we’ll part,” he said. “It will end.”

“I get that.”

“There is nothing you can say or do to make me stay.” One corner of his mouth turned up. “Some have made the mistake of falling in love with me.”

She wanted to roll her eyes. “I guess the advantage of your ego is the workout you get from carrying it around. You probably never have to go to the gym. Don’t worry, Cruz. You’re not all that. At the end of the six months, I’ll let you go and never look back.”

“Good. Then we have a deal.”

“I want one more thing. I want to find out who’s trying to hurt my company. The way this was done feels personal. I want to know who did this to me and why.”

“What makes you think I have access to that kind of information?”

“Every fiber of my being. You can find things out. I want to know.” She wanted to understand and then, because she was a Titan, she wanted revenge.

“Done,” he said and moved toward her. “Anything else?”

It was impossible to think with him invading her personal space. She took a step back. “I, ah, think that’s everything.”

“Good. You’ll have a cashier’s check first thing in the morning.”

So they were finished. They should seal the deal somehow. But he was moving closer again and shaking on it seemed foolish. Especially when he put one hand on her waist and drew her toward him.

She wanted to hold back. Being close to Cruz had never been her smartest move. She needed to keep her brain functioning. Protect herself at any cost. The man was—

He lowered his head and kissed her. A deep, hot kiss that claimed and took and stole her will. His lips were firm and warm. His mouth moved against hers. The movement itself wasn’t all that different, all that spectacular. She should have been able to resist. But this was Cruz and she couldn’t.

His arms came around her, but there was no need for him to pull her close. She went willingly, wanting to melt into him, needing to touch everywhere. His hard, muscled body provided a safe haven, while the heat of his tongue on her lower lip promised plenty of good times.

She parted for him, then shuddered as he slipped into her mouth. Sparks jolted through her. She clutched at his shoulders, then ran her hands up and down his back.

He tasted like Scotch and sin and sex. However deeply he kissed her, it wasn’t enough. It could never be enough. Heat surrounded her. She wanted to breathe in all of him.

Need pulsed in time with her rapid heartbeat. She ached with a desperation that terrified her. She knew that if he took her right that second, she would come until she was screaming with pleasure and she didn’t care who saw.

The image was so real she shuddered, then pulled back, afraid she would give in. That she would beg. She who had always been so carefully controlled in bed…except with him.

They stared at each other. At least he was breathing hard. She wasn’t the only one affected by their kiss.

“We’ll have an interesting journey,” he said. “You have a week to get your personal affairs in order. I’ll leave my address and a house key with the check tomorrow.”

Then he was gone, fading into the night, leaving her alone on the balcony of the house where she’d grown up.

If it wasn’t for the sexual hunger coursing through her body, she could almost convince herself that none of this had happened. That she hadn’t really sold, if not her soul, then at least her body, to Cruz Rodriguez for two million dollars.

“It’s the price of doing business,” she murmured to herself.

And what her father had always taught her. To get what you wanted, then you had to be willing to pay the price.

As long as it wasn’t more than just her time and her body. As long as she remembered to make sure it was never her heart.

THE HEADQUARTERS for Cruz Control were between Dallas and Fort Worth, on a ten-acre plot of land that Cruz could easily sell for ten times what he’d paid for it. Developers constantly came calling. He listened, then tossed them out. He was plenty rich, so he didn’t need the money, although he did enjoy having what everyone else wanted.

Behind the five-story building was the garage he’d always dreamed about when he’d been growing up. But the five bays had grown into twenty. There was a test course behind the garage, a separate area for experimental cars and the constant sound of engines. It was his favorite place in the world.

He stopped just inside the garage to survey what he had built. Sometimes he forgot where he’d come from, but this morning the past seemed especially close and vivid—as if he could reach out and touch the angry twelve-year-old kid he’d been. The kid who’d vowed he would do more than survive and get by. That he would make it and command respect everywhere he went.

He heard someone call his name. Manny, his manager and best friend, waved him over.

“The brakes are screwy,” Manny said with a grimace. “The design is a mess. I need to go over it again, unless you want to.”

“Not today.” Cruz felt too restless to pour over a design. That kind of detail work required concentration and he couldn’t seem to control his thoughts.